Measuring moisture content in building structures during the construction is important. If the structure material, e.g. concrete, is being coated too early it may cause severe structural damages in the future. Having moisture in structure material for a longer period may cause growth of mold, which can adverse effects to health. Moisture also destroys the material in time causing it to decay. The financial cost repairing these damages may rise to large numbers.
On the other hand, letting the structure material dry for an unnecessary long time causes delays in construction work which also lead to extra financial costs.
It is also important to keep track on the moisture content of structures during the usage in order to detect possible water damages.
There are some prior known solutions for measuring moisture in building structures. However these inventions and methods have some limitations. In one known method a hole is drilled in the material desired to be measured, then the hole is cleaned and a sensor, measuring relative humidity, is mounted in the hole.
In another prior known method material samples are taken from a desired depth either by drilling or chipping. The samples are then sealed in a testing tube with a relative humidity measuring sensor. The moisture from the sample mixes with the air inside the tube and after a while the moisture has spread out in the space inside the tube and the humidity of the space becomes stable. The result is then read with a reading device.
The known methods are time-consuming and susceptible to errors due to the multiple preparation steps before reading the results. The user's competence to perform the measurement plays also a part in the reliability of the final result. In addition, the methods are not suitable for tracking moisture during the usage of the building due to the necessity of breaking the structural surface. Additionally, it may take a long time, such as 8 hours, until the humidity of the measurement space becomes stable, and therefore the measurement procedure may be slow.